Toronto Blue Jays infielder Darwin Barney takes part in a team practice in Toronto, Sunday, Oct. 16, 2016. The Blue Jays play the Cleveland Indians in Game 3 of baseball’s American League Championship Series on Monday. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

The Toronto Blue Jays are back home and will send Marcus Stroman to the mound Monday for Game 3 of the AL Championship Series, but the bigger issue for them right now is their hitting.

Toronto, which trails the series 2-0, has scored only one run in the ALCS so far, failing to break through against Cleveland’s starters and looking overmatched against the Indians’ Andrew Miller-led bullpen.

Trevor Buaer will start Monday for the Indians.

“All you’ve got to do is go look at video and try to count how many times they’ve thrown pitches over the heart of the plate,” Toronto slugger Jose Bautista said. “It hasn’t been many.”

Miller has thrown 3 2/3 scoreless innings in this series, striking out five in each of the two games. He became the first pitcher with two separate postseason outings of at least five strikeouts in no more than two innings, according to information provided by the Indians from the Elias Sports Bureau.

“If he’s on, there’s not a lot you can do with him,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “He’s got an overpowering fastball, and he’s got that incredible slider.”

Bautista said Miller now seems to be throwing his slider a couple different ways, and the 6-foot-7 left-hander didn’t dispute that.

“I throw it pretty differently and not always intentionally,” Miller said. “When you throw it backdoor, I want as much horizontal break (as I can). I want the ball to start as far off the plate and come back and catch the corner. In certain counts, if I’m trying to get a swing and miss, I want more depth.”

The Blue Jays can take some solace in the schedule, which now calls for three games in three days. That might prevent Francona from being quite as aggressive with Miller in relief, although Toronto has to avoid a sweep for all three of those games to be played.

If the Blue Jays stay quiet offensively, it could be a short series.

“It’s a slugging team, that’s how they’re built,” Gibbons said. “You are what you are a lot of times when you get to a certain point in this game, and you live and die with it.”

Stroman hasn’t pitched since Oct. 4, when he threw six solid innings in the wild-card game against Baltimore.

New GM for D-backs

The Arizona Diamondbacks named Boston Red Sox general manager Mike Hazen an executive vice president and general manager.

Hazen replaces Dave Stewart, who fired along with manager Chip Hale a day after the regular season ended.

“We feel very strongly that we have found the ideal candidate to lead our baseball operations,” Diamondbacks managing general partner Ken Kendrick said in a statement. “Mike’s reputation throughout the game is impeccable, and his championship experience gives us great confidence in naming him to this position.”

The 40-year-old Hazen served as senior vice president and GM of the Red Sox last season after four years as the team’s assistant GM. He spent 11 seasons working in his hometown of Boston, working in every aspect of baseball operations.

The Red Sox won the World Series twice and reached the postseason five times during Hazen’s tenure. Boston was swept in three games by Cleveland in the AL Division Series this year.

“Mike’s background is the perfect balance of scouting, player development and analytics, which will all play an important role going forward,” Diamondbacks President and CEO Derrick Hall said. “He’s a natural leader, who we feel fortunate to have been able to hire, and we welcome him and his family to Arizona.”

Hazen previously spent five seasons with the Cleveland Indians, working in scouting and player development. He graduated from Princeton and played two seasons in the minor leagues.

The Diamondbacks made a leadership change after failing to reach the playoffs five straight seasons. Arizona has not had a winning season since taking the NL West title in 2011and went 69-93 in 2016.

“I’m extremely grateful for this incredible opportunity to help the D-backs reach the next level,” Hazen said. “This is a franchise that has experienced a lot of success both on and off the field in less than two decades of existence, and I’m looking forward to working with Ken and Derrick to help bring back a tradition of winning to Arizona.”

The Associated Press is an independent, not-for-profit news cooperative, serving member newspapers and broadcasters in the U.S., and other customers around the world. The Southern California News Group is one of them. AP journalists in more than 100 countries tell the world’s stories, from breaking news to investigative reporting to visual storytelling. Since 1846, AP has been covering the world’s biggest news events, committed to the highest standards of objective, accurate journalism. Learn more about policies and standards in AP’s Statement of News Values and Principles. https://www.ap.org/about/news-values-and-principles/

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.